oh boy, 40g breeder build

[A sea K]

Did you ever get your glass cut? What a PITA that can be. Just a few tips as I have done this and like you have found it to be quite difficult. Oh one other thing, first thing that came to mind when I saw the picture of the glass edgewise was , man thats pretty thick, going to be a little tough to cut that with no prior experience.
Any way, use a lubricant when scoring the glass, water works ok but WD-40 is better and easy enough to clean up afterwards. Apply firm sturdy pressure on the scoring tool using a good straightedge to guide the score line line, just one pass is all it takes. You may want to practice a little to help develop your technique on some of the broken pieces you have from earlier attempts. Once scored you can either support the glass along the score line to snap it or possibly over the edge of a firm straight table. An extra hand really helps on this step as it can be difficult by yourself. Once done you can sand the edges of the glass to remove any shards leftover on the cut edge, a raw cut edge is sharper than a razor so be careful when handling.
Hope this is helpful and good luck.

 

[count krunk]

is it really possible to cut via scoring glass that is this thick? it's close to a 1/2". probably is, I haven't measured it in a while.

And no, i haven't messed with the glass since that attempt. I am building the stand now, then will get back to the sump once that is done.

 

[A sea K]

Yes it is possible but I would not attempt it nor would I care to use glass that thick for sump baffles. Find some 3/16 and have a go at that, should be much more user friendly. I looked back at the glass pic, probably 3/8 if I had to guess, still too thick IMO.

 

[count krunk]

yeah the new plan was to go to HD or Lowes and get some thin 3/16" glass from there and score it to size.

I had an old 55g tank, so I busted it down and figured why not. I will use the glass instead to make a new tank out of at some point.

Thanks for your help!

 

[count krunk]

Truck? Who needs one!

All you need is a rope and large towel I had already removed the rope so I could out of the car normal and not NASCAR style.

towel > 4x4 > 8x4 > rope

Side view

Stand frame is painted up. Need to cut the top and bottom, then create my little electronics cabinet in the side of the stand.

After that I will plumb her up and build the sump.

Finally finishing with adding the sides and making it pretty.

Getting there!

 

[A sea K]

That is seriously funny! Also the same car my wife drives and no how no way would she let that happen (she typically lets me get away with a LOT of things but not to her car) I do have a pick up though so I'm safe.

 

[mshonk]

Well!

Two different glass cutting attempts, two failures. Will go with a shop for $5/cut for the rest of the sump build.

I leveled out the glass on the table where I would be cutting it. I think a problem was getting water to it. I used a water hose with a wand on spray, the saw creates a good amount of wind and was blowing the water away from the blade, so it wasn't getting as wet as I would have liked. It was cutting well for about 2" then I think got too dry and the glass split.

I was wearing nice safety glasses and work gloves, as well as long sleeves so I was well protected. No explosion of shards or anything.

Equipment used

The aftermath

You can also see some chipping in the very beginning. When i go for attempt #3, I will need to employ the use of a tile saw. I considered getting a 10" blade for my miter saw, but don't want to mess that saw up as it is much more valuable than my 7" skill circular saw.

I will go with something like this for # 3, but not sure when that will be.

Its not perfect but I used a plain glass cutter. The little handheld wheel kind.

 

[count krunk]

I have made some cuts into that plywood. Slowed down the build a bit as I bought the below.

Should have everything running at a v 1.0 around May

12 feet long
4 HP 4 stroke Yamaha outboard
Gator trailer
a lof of fun

 

[A sea K]

looks like someone 's goin fishin!!!

 

[count krunk]

I was able to get my metal halide "black box" wires reconnected. So naturally, i had to turn it on and see what it do.

I took this minute video of dubious quality and you can see the bulb go thru its paces.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[geekengineer]

Stopping by your build thread. Looking pretty good so far. Also looks like your better at budgeting than I am. lol

 

[count krunk]

moving much slower as well!

I got the top and bottom plywood on the stand tonight. Sides will be done tomorrow and Wednesday. I used my nailgun for the first time to attach the plywood.. Love it! So much faster haha. I was done in about 3 minutes. I have had a 10 g running on the back patio with a ?W PC with live rock and sand. a penguin Emporer HOB filter 200 gph i think. It has some snails and a hermit crab in it right now.

Going to go to RAP and see what there is to see. Will most likely come back with some LPS or softies, will place in the 10g until the breeder is ready.

 

[count krunk]

So I saw a post where a user had marked out their sump design with painters tape.

So it gave me the below idea.

Does anyone see any issues with the flow?

For the "wall" separating the skimmer and cryptic zone, I was thinking of no wall at or a very short (2-3") tall wall. I have it drawn that way to better see how it will all work together

 

[A sea K]

I dont really think a wall between the two is needed and without one will add much space to your cryptic zone. I would however find or devise a way to diffuse any flow out of the skimmer if it is disruptive to the cryptic zone. Is the large section where the tape measure is located the pump return? If so what are the measurements?

 

[count krunk]

This is how I have it mapped out right now.

after drawing it out I was thinking that there would be no wall/barrier between the skimmer and the cryptic zone. As well as extending the bulkhead section out one inch so the skimmer doesn't cut into it at all. There is room from the skimmer to bump forward an inch without disturbing the other baffle placements

Would the skimmer disturb it that much? The flow from the drains would be much higher than the flow from the skimmer is my thought.

 

[count krunk]

after talking with my LFS, it would seem I have more in plan for an NPS zone than a cryptic zone.

Either way, for the 10g I have added a yellow watchmen goby to it today. He/she is such a small fellow, at a very slim .75-1" long.

I also bought 4x nassarius snails to keep the sandbed mixed up more. I did a float temperature acclimation for the fish and snails. Before adding the snails and fish I mixed up the sandbed with my finger (no bristle worms yet, was very sterile yet mature rock). After doing that I brushed off this rather thick slime of cyano algae that covered maybe 3-4 sq in of one of the live rock pieces.

It sloughed off with a rather satisfying thump.

While both goby and snails were floating, I went off to take care of other things. I come back after 5-10 minutes to discover the snail bag had sunk all the way into my tank! So I decided they got a rush acclimation and off they went to the 10g. 2/4 were larger and moving right away.

The goby was relaxing peacefully in the bottom of his bag. I then moved him to a tiny 1 or so gallon fish bowl where I drip acclimated him until the water level doubled in size.

I then released him into the tank with a brine shrimp net and he settled nicely onto the live rock. From which he disappeared into one of the many tunnels.

Later tonight I found him just relaxing below his chosen piece of live rock.

I will try to capture him with my Nikon here soon, hopefully, that will result in a nicer quality picture

 

[count krunk]

finally mixed up some DIY food for the first time in a while.

Due to an unforeseen sink drain leak, i wasn't able to get the clams in it and will also have to slow down a bit again. mainly because i will be working on the house instead of the tank!

Here is it all mixed up. Going to pop open the clams tomorrow then freeze them and slice offf little strips. Tank doesn't have enough critters in it yet to just open and pop it in.

and the mixture in a bag

I have feed it twice, once at 11pm and once around 6pm. The second time i was able to watch the nassarius pop up once the food hit the water. the blue leg hermit came over as well. I was able to see my little tiny watchmen dart out, snatch a meaty piece, and return to his home in the rock.

Going to RAP on Saturday! Hoping to get some salt, LPS, zoes, and maybe some mushroom to chill in the 10g while the 40 gets going.

 

[geekengineer]

Lol doesn't look to appetizing to me. have fun a RAP.

 

[count krunk]

I went to #Reefalapoolza

Can't believe i am just now saying this on the 6th anniversary of #RAP in Orlando, FL.

I have heard #MACNA is in September; the 40G will be setup here!

I was able to attend the talk from @DrTim . It was very inline with my thought of a natural @Paul B style of aquarium.

 

[count krunk]

I was able to pick up a $40 two head frogspawn, which is thought was a fair price as well as a $10 green/yellow ricordia from #RAPOrlando.

dirty glass and does not seem to be receiving enough light. That will be solved this weekend.

I have them both in the 10 gallon under, wait for it.. 40w power compact!

It turns out, this little 10 gallon, and 40 w PC light fixture, were both part of my first reef tank setup back in 2007.

This weekend I plan on swapping it out with my metal halide. Will prob place it 10" or so off of the water. I also have my little tom's aqualifter paired to an Innovative Marine Hydrafill ATO. It popped on and work perfectly right out of the box

As you can see, it is quite the system